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Minutes

Beverley Shirley explained some background information on
the grant rule process. The agency is consolidating all the
grants under one subchapter of the rules. Each TSLAC grant
program will have a separate section for their specific rules,
but the general rules will apply to all grants. Some of the
details will not be put in the rules, but will be addressed
in the guidelines for each grant program.

The task of the working group was to look at the existing
TexTreasures rules and recommend changes. The changes considered
include:

Do we still see the purpose of TexTreasures grants as
“seed” money, or do we want to allow the grants
to fully fund discrete projects? As more libraries have
acquired the hardware and software to accomplish their digitization
and access goals, do we have less need for “seed money”
to get projects started? Would we benefit more by providing
funds to allow for more materials within the collections
to be digitized or made accessible in other ways?The recommendation of the group was to drop the seed
money and allow funding to discrete projects. The issue
of allowing applicants to apply for additional funding for
the same project for up to 3 years of funding was also discussed,
but we didn’t come to a final recommendation.

Microfilming is now in use as a preservation technology,
not as a strategy for increased access to collections. Would
it, therefore, be appropriate to remove “microfilming”
from the list of eligible project activities (which we will
move to the guidelines)?

The group agreed that microfilming was principally a
preservation technology, and that these grants are not specifically
for preservation activities but is meant for access and
resource sharing projects. The group recommends that “microfilming”
be removed from the list of eligible project activities.

TexShare member libraries have forged a number of valuable
partnerships enabling their joint digital projects (e.g.
Museum of Houston, Texas Digital Library, EPals, Regional
Library Systems, etc.). Should we allow non-profit organizations
applying on behalf of TexShare members to be eligible? Should
we allow TexTreasures funding to be applied to non-member
partners in the project as well as to TexShare member collections?

After a lengthy discussion, the group agreed that the
applicant should be a TexShare member, and the funds should
be awarded to the applicant. TexShare members can apply
on behalf of a partnership that includes non-members, and
the funds can be directed to non-profit organizations in
the partnership.

4. Other competitive grants offered by TSLAC do specify
a match in the grants’ rules; rather match is specified
in the grant guidelines and does not come into play for
amounts at the $20,000 - $25,000 level. Should we remove
the match requirement from TexTreasures grants? If so, should
we ask applicants to address sustainable access to their
collections in the project design portion?
The recommendation of the group is to remove the match requirement
from the grant rules, but award points in the scoring for
cost effectiveness to encourage leveraging local resources.
The group proposes adding a question to the rules under
Award Criteria, Cost Effectiveness – “Does the
project proposal leverage local resources?”

5. Other competitive grants offered by TSLAC do not specify
a cap on the amount of the grant. Should we continue to
cap grants to individual applicants at $20,000? Would it
be appropriate to have a larger cap for collaborative projects
- $25,000?

The group recommends keeping the cap at $20,000 for
a single applicant and raising the cap to $25,000 for collaborative
projects. This should be taken out of the rules and put
in the guidelines to be consistent with the other TSLAC
grants.

6. The commission will also be considering a proposal that
for FY2008 and FY2009 portions of each competitive grant
be reserved for regional library system applications, should
systems choose to apply. We ask the TexShare Advisory Board
to make recommendations to the commission regarding this
proposal as it relates to TexTreasures grants.

There was concern expressed by the working group that
the grant funds available are too small to reserve a portion
of it for the Systems. The working group would be scoring
all applications, while only giving out 2 or 3 grants each
year based on those scores. The time and energy necessary
to go through the process of awarding the grants would be
disproportional to the small number of grants awarded on
the basis of that scoring process.